Design Folder: Your Online Design and Decorating Resource

space matters: upid’s advocacy

“What will you build? A wall? A roof? A room? Or will you build stronger families, better neighborhoods and brighter futures?”

I saw this in Habitat for Humanity’s website yesterday and made me think about my work. For people like me who are in the design and construction industry, “building” is what we do everyday. But because it has been a part of our daily lives, we tend to forget the meaning and purpose of what we do as builders and designers. We do not just make things pretty and functional; we improve the lives of the people by providing better living and workings environments.

This has been the advocacy of UP Interior Design (UPID) under the College of Home Economics for the past 9 years—to build a better and stronger Filipino society by improving the interior environments of underserved communities and institutions here in Manila. This replaced the typical interior design exhibits that previous batches were organizing.  Apart from helping underserved communities, this annual project also allows students to become aware of the possible impact of their work as future interior designers especially with regards to community building and social change.

Below are the rehabilitation/renovation projects that past UPID students have undertaken:

BID batch AY 2001- 2002 – three underserved institutions: Golden Acres, Study Center for Children, and Gawad Kalinga model unit.

BID batch AY 2002-2003 – the pediatric ward, lobby, doctors’ hallway and chapel of the East Avenue Medical Center (2nd and third images above)

BID batch AY 2003-2004 – a preschool in Payatas, the library and clinic in the Balara Elementary School and the library of the Balara High school

BID batch AY 2004-2005 – Children’s Joy Foundation shelter for children

BSID batch AY 2005-2006 – Barangay Aklatang Pambata (5th & 6th images)

BSID batch AY 2006-2007 – HE Cares Foundation shelter for boys (4th image)

BSID batch AY 2007-2008 – UP Kalayaan Residence Hall

BSID batch AY 2009-2010 – doctors’ clinics at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (top image)

You can read our feature on last year’s Cradle Project HERE. Next week, we’ll share with you this year’s UPGRADE Project that hopes to improve the lives of 7 families! df

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conscious living: 5 ways for a greener home

Last month, we joined an online contest and submitted a video entry on 5 easy ways for a greener home. We didn’t win the contest but we hope that the people who saw the video learned something.

Because we were limited to Animoto’s free 30-second video format, we didn’t get to add text descriptions to the photo mosaics in the presentation. Below is a brief explanation of how these 5 simple tips could help you get big results in creating a greener (and healthier!) home for your family.

Given our hot and humid climate, it is not surprising that a big percentage of our energy consumption (50-60%) goes to space cooling through electric fans and air conditioning systems. Instead of relying on these appliances, how about tapping on mother nature to help cool our homes? There are several ways on how to naturally cool your interiors. Green Guide’s 6-part article about passive cooling provides the basic information on proper orientation, openings, cross ventilation, stack effect, shading and insulation. Using the right kind of windows, like louver and casement windows, also helps a lot. Apart from saving money and improving the air quality of your interiors, you also help reduce CO2 in the air by decreasing your use of electricity.

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Why turn on that light bulb when there’s enough sunlight outside to illuminate the interiors? Natural daylighting, by having a lot of window openings and using light colors for the walls and ceilings to reflect the light, is free and CO2-free. Moreover, sunlight helps prevent the formation of harmful molds and mildew in your interiors. And, according to research, it is also beneficial to our overall health.

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Instead of buying useless accessories and senseless displays to decorate your home, why not bring in your favorite indoor plants to add color and texture to your space? Plants in interior spaces do more than just beautify your surroundings. Certain types of plants, like the spider plant, are proven to be excellent air purifiers that absorb harmful chemicals, like formaldehyde, that are commonly present in indoor environments. See the list of other plants HERE.

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This is synonymous to the environmentalists’ call to buy local. Local products use less fuel and energy to travel from the source to the consumer. This means less carbon emissions. Aside from being green, buying local also contributes to the growth of the local economy. That’s hitting two birds with one stone!

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As much as possible, buy handmade! Handmade products are usually one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted items that are made without the use of machines and are not mass produced.

Start putting your hands to work and learn how to make things yourself. Brush up on your sewing skills and make your own throw pillows (check out these easy and pretty felt throw pillows HERE). Even better if you can learn/re-learn how to knit and crochet and make pillows, blankets, and table cloths from yarn! Maybe these charming crochet projects HERE can inspire you to get started.

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a-list: abi goy

These works by Filipina graphic designer Abi Goy make me smile. They’re fun and feminine yet strong at the same time. Apart from illustrations for popular children’s books, Goy also creates cute postcards and pillowcase designs. I wonder what inspires her to make these whimsical but chic illustrations. Her other works, which you can find at her website, will definitely make you instant fans. -lilli

i saw design: the wild flowers of studio choo

The other day, I had an impromptu lunch with three of my “tru_prends”, Shar, Mabel, and Rachel, who were all working in the Ortigas area. The topic of conversation? Life. Hahaha! Maybe this is what they call quarter life crisis???

One interesting question (I think c/o mabel) that came up during lunch was about what our dream job or career would be. I couldn’t think of anything that time except being a housewife/stay-at-home mom in the future (haha, really). But after stumbling upon a feature on the girls of Studio Choo this morning, I think I know what my dream job would be—a florist (while being a stay-at-home mom)! But I’m not talking about your typical Holland Tulips type of florist. Like Studio Choo, I want my flowers to have a hand-picked look, arranged in unconventional re-used containers like tin cans, jam jars, broken cups and old water glasses. It would also be nice if I could pick from my own little garden full of flowers like in one of those Batibot episodes. Ok, the garden part would really be a dream unless I decide to move and live in Baguio or Davao!-ardel

*all photos via studio choo

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diy: 1 room, 3 looks

For a lot of people, they can’t live with a home or a room that looks the same forever. Let’s face it: it’s boring. But how do we change the look of a room without spending a lot? Like what stylists in the fashion industry would say, play around with accessories! This tip is not only applicable in transforming your outfits. It does the same wonders for your spaces by introducing different sets of colors, patterns and texture.

Here’s an easy example: one bedroom with three different looks. By just changing the accent pillows and the prints inside the picture frames, the white-and-gray bedroom takes on three different looks to suit three different moods.

Above is a cheerful medley of pink, brown, and lime green.

Below is a cool combination of blues and lavender.

At the bottom, black, white and beige creates a clean, crisp setting. -ardel

sale alert!: mattress sale

If you need to replace your sagging mattress, now is the time! Mandaue Foam is having a mattress sale from September 15 to October 3!

For the green-minded, you might also want to check their new line of latex-top spring mattresses. Instead of the regular polyurethane foam, this line uses natural rubber latex foam which is friendlier to the environment.

See list of their stores HERE. df

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i saw design: team manila’s tourism posters

How much of the Philippines have you visited?

In support of the ongoing efforts of promoting the local tourism industry, graphic design and pinoy pop-culture lifestyle brand Team Manila came up with these graphic tourism posters. Cool, colorful and eye-catching, their posters feature some of the more popular tourist spots in the country such as the lime cliffs in Palawan (in Coron and El Nido), the green mountains of Batanes, and the countless Chocolate Hills of Bohol to name a few. I love how the posters captured the beauty and essence of each destination and translated them into colorful graphic images.

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the posters in Team Manila’s Flickr photostream.

#HelpDOT and spread the word (and the images)! df

spacelift: space makeover

Revamped a chair? Redecorated a room? Renovated a house? Show off your before & after projects while you inspire others to improve and space-lift their homes and offices one furniture/room at a time.

Email your before and after photos with a brief description about the project to mydesignfolder@yahoo.com.

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spacelift: major bedroom makeover (part 2)

As I have mentioned in the previous post, an important part of Nina’s bedroom makeover is the conversion of the adjacent bedroom into an integrated walk-in closet (WIC). This allowed her to get rid of the existing closets in her bedroom and make room for a desk (which she did not have before) and an occasional chair.

The room beside Nina’s bedroom used to be her brother’s. When he got married and moved out of the house, the room became the household’s informal space for storage.

Her game plan was simple: work with the existing space, maximize the area for storage, and create provisions that will make it relatively easy for her to maintain the order of the room.

Open cabinets were built onto the four walls. They were constructed above the floor to preserve the existing wood planks and to save on materials (plywood). This strategy also made the room look less cramped in spite of the additional cabinets.

There were 7 types of cabinet spaces in the WIC: 1) adjustable cubicles for folded shirts, 2) spaces for tops (blouses and jackets) on hangers, 2) spaces for bottoms (pants and skirts) on hangers, 3) a space for dresses, 4) adjustable shelves for bags, 5) racks for shoes, 6) drawers for undergarments, accessories and other small items, and 7) shelves for magazines and books. A cushioned seat and full length mirror were also provided to complete the space.

To showcase her collection of designer bags, Nina made them as the focal point of the room and placed them at the side fronting the sliding door. Because she wanted the rooms to feel like a personal boutique, 3W LED directional lamps were installed, instead of the typical recessed CFLs, to highlight the clothes, shoes, and bags. And similar to what many boutiques do, the clothes were sorted according to type and then according to color to make the room visually organized.

See the rest of the photos of Nina’s walk-in closet in the photo gallery below!

Previous: Nina’s bedroom makeover (part 1)

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spacelift: major bedroom makeover (part 1)

“Busy” is not enough to describe this week. At least for me, it’s more of a hell week! Unfortunately, my room is also keeping up with the hell week theme with books, magazines and brown envelopes piled on my desk. Talk about stress!

Unlike me, our friend Nina, is already enjoying a more relaxed after-work life following the recent renovation of her bedroom. From a disorganized (nina, sorry for the description!) pink-and-purple girl’s space (top), her bedroom now sports a fresh and clean image with a dreamy white ensemble.

Her bedroom’s main problem is the lack of storage space to accommodate all of her clothes, shoes, and bags. So, key to finding order in her room is the conversion of the adjacent vacant bedroom into an integrated walk-in closet. She also wanted to update the character of her space into something that’s still fresh, youthful, and feminine but a bit more grown-up.

The existing wall-to-wall built-in closets in both bedrooms (above) were removed and a sliding door was made to provide a direct access from the bedroom to the walk-in closet. What used to be the space occupied by cabinets is now the area for a desk/dresser and an occasional armchair (below).

As for the colors and furnishings, Nina wanted a white room with some gray and lime green accents. To get the look, everything was simplified. The walls (except for the warm grey accent wall) and the ceiling, including the mouldings, were painted in white. The wood flooring was just re-varnished. All furniture pieces, a combination of traditional and contemporary silhouettes, and soft furnishings like the curtains and bed linens, were also in white. Apart from the accent wall, warm and cool grays were introduced through the cotton pillow cases and microfiber blanket, silver wall frames, chrome bedside lamp, and glass table lamp with pleated shades. Lime green and pink were added sparingly through the accents pillows and lime green photos.

See all the photos of the bedroom in the gallery below!

This is just the first part of Nina’s bedroom transformation. On Monday, watch out for the second half of this makeover! {Thanks Nina!}

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